The oft-repeated notion that law school is undeniably and overwhelmingly busy is well-founded. No one needs to tell us how often semi-essential outlets, such as friends, family and loved ones, fall to the wayside during the school year, and how often arguably more crucial activities, such as exercise, sleep and general hygiene are sacrificed at the feet of the law school gods. The idea of adding anything beyond the bare minimum to the mix is often as daunting as the Socratic Method itself. Nonetheless, some Cardozo students juggle more than just classes, journals, extra-curricular activities and jobs—they also juggle kids.

While most Cardozo students spent their winter break relaxing after finals, participating in ITAP or travelling to exotic locations, Debbie Bernstein, 2L, spent her break in a more unusual location—the Montefiore-Einstein Medical Center—where, on January 9th, just weeks after taking her last exam of the semester, she gave birth to her first child, Micah.  Despite finding it uncomfortable to sit for hours on end, Bernstein felt that her pregnancy did not drastically affect her studying last semester. The only difference was that during finals, Bernstein brought crackers and Cheerios with her to school, in case she experienced any pregnancy-induced nausea. But, given the array of unique strategies implemented by anxious law students to calm last-minute nerves during finals, a pregnant woman with a bag of Cheerios likely went unnoticed.

This semester will be a bit different. Bernstein contemplated taking the semester off or just attending school part-time, but ultimately she decided to stay in school full-time. Otherwise, she worried she might jeopardize her summer job. Fortunately, despite the fact that the administration would not allow her to register early, or with the 3Ls, Bernstein was able to arrange her schedule so that she only has classes three days per week. While Debbie is in school, her mother-in-law watches Micah, who was only nine-days old when the Spring semester began.

Regarding her impressive balancing act, Bernstein advises, “it is important to be flexible, to prioritize, and to realize that sometimes you will have to put school before friends, weddings, birthdays, and family.” However, she also acknowledges that “it is important to have a certain perspective—if you don’t read this one case, you’ll be fine. School is also about enjoying certain things.”

Richard Lewis, 1L, who has a four-month old daughter, Luna, says parenting has “been really great with forcing me to structure my time…When I’m in school, I’ve got to use my time efficiently because when I get home, I want to spend as much time as I can with Luna.” Swamped law students everywhere might find that heeding this advice and limiting the many common pitfalls and distractions to studying, such as Facebook, Twitter and G-chat, would free up some much needed time for other activities—whether or not that includes parenting.